Georgia considers higher fees instead of taxes

ATLANTA --- Georgians who put up a tent in the McDuffie public fishing area pay $15 per night, while those using the Dodge public fishing area must come up with $100 per day.

Fees charged by the state for licenses and services aren't consistent or in line with the actual costs of the services. As the state grapples with declining tax collections and the possibility of additional layoffs and budget cuts, user fees are a likely source of extra income.

During the early 1990s, dozens of fees were imposed and existing fees increased as a way to cope with the effects of a recession. For example, the fee for a birth certificate rose from $1 to $10 in 1992. In the same year, the state imposed a $1 scrap-tire disposal fee added to the price of new tires.

Policy experts say before a new round of wholesale fee increases or new fees, a statewide standard should be set that determines who should pay fees and how much should go toward covering the cost of providing the actual service.

"We shouldn't just have a fee for a fee's sake and call it a user fee and exploit it for something else," said Benita Dodd, the vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. "Then it just becomes a tax."

Some fees bring in more than is required to perform the service, such as the fees levied on financial institutions by the Department of Bank and Finance.

The Department of Natural Resources' scrap-tire fees generate $6 million yearly, but the Legislature only appropriates $1 million for cleanup of tire dumps, with the rest going for other uses in the state treasury.

Agencies often have no estimate of the cost of the services they perform and charge for, according to a 2006 review of four departments by the Department of Audits and Accounts. A follow-up review issued last month showed nothing much had changed.

"The state of Georgia has taken very little action to address the issues identified in our December, 2006, special examination," the auditors wrote in the follow-up.

Both reviews looked at 347 fees generating $174 million levied by the departments of Agriculture, Banking & Finance, Human Resources and Natural Resources. The follow-up found just nine fees had been updated while at least 153 fees haven't changed in 10 years.

DNR's charge for lodges at its state parks cover just 60 percent of operating costs. Private businesses renting similar rooms would have to raise rates, notes Peter Bluestone, research associate at Georgia State University's Fiscal Research Center.

Updating fees to cover costs would generate $45 million, according to Sarah Beth Gehl, deputy director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

In a brief to be issued next week, the institute calls for revising fees so the general tax fund no longer subsidizes those services.